Letter to Pippa Heylings, LibDem MP for South Cambs
Friday, May 22nd, 2026 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnrI'm writing to you as one of your constituents. I am a non-trans woman, who believes that trans women are also women. I'm sure you've had a lot of emails about this today. No doubt the LibDems are working on a reply which I would be happy to see, but I'd also appreciate your own thoughts.
Yesterday the government finally revealed the new updated EHRC Guidance to the Equality Act. There are updates to several areas, but the ones I want to talk about are those affecting trans people.
There is an attempt to say that gender reassignment is still a protected characteristic, but the vast majority of the changes are about how service providers and others are now not only able to, but *expected* to exclude trans people from the places which match their lived gender, or in some cases also from places which match their official sex at birth.
I know you have lovely trans colleagues who you were campaigning with in Cambridge recently. I know you don't think Yannifer should be expected to use the men's toilets. But according to this guidance we are all expected to treat her as a man from now on, and we are asked to believe that this has always been the legal reality of the Equality Act, and that previous guidance was merely mistaken in ever having said otherwise.
Trans people with GRCs have sworn an oath that they intend to live their lives going forward in their acquired gender, and if this guidance is accepted then they will no longer be able to do so.
The guidance itself even accepts that there is no way for any of us to adequately prove to someone who asks whether we are in fact trans or not. I could be refused service if someone *thinks* I am trans, and does not believe me when I say that I am not.
I am not surprised to see this guidance, because it has been clear for some time that this has been coming. I am still shocked and appalled that the government is just going ahead with it.
Please can I ask you to speak up. Speak up for trans people. Speak up for clubs and services which wish to remain trans inclusive. Speak up for other women, who will experience harassment because they are suspected of being trans, but even more so for trans people who will experience increased harassment and fear too. Speak up for those who are now excluded from taking part in sport, even if their clubs and leagues welcome them.
The government could legislate to change this, to change the Equality Act to mean when it had always been understood to mean. They choose not to. I hope you and the LibDems can choose better.
Yours sincerely,
Eleanor Blair
Great Shelford, Cambridge, CB22
Our latest piece is live! The brilliant Soila Kenya writes about the dominance of English in fandom&
Thursday, May 14th, 2026 06:14 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
allthingslinguistic_feedThe Elation and Anxiety of Reading Fic in Your Native Tongue
Our latest piece is live! The brilliant Soila Kenya writes about the dominance of English in fandom and especially fanfiction spaces, and why for her and the fellow fans she interviewed from Kenya, Nigeria, and Burundi, this is partly about the global dominance of English-language pop culture, but especially about the legacies of colonialism:
The deep psychological imprints of this language disparity remain. And therefore, when I encountered fanfiction, it didn’t even occur to me that there were fanfics written in any language but English, let alone Swahili or any of the 42 indigenous languages in Kenya.
Click through to read the whole piece or listen to a full audio version! And if you enjoy it, please consider becoming a (free) member or especially a paying subscriber—we want to commission more pieces from Soila and other smart writers and we need your help to pay them!
(As a reminder, we have a discount rate for anyone who wants it, no questions asked—if you’re a student, educator, un/underemployed, have a lower income, or literally any other reason, just email info@fansplaining.com and we’re happy to provide!)
This piece is SO good—absolutely worth your time to read or listen (I always love hearing the writers read their work, but since the focus of this piece is language, it was especially great hearing Soila read it). If you enjoy it, please share widely: I know what Soila writes here will resonate with so many people across fandom.
Just seconding the love for this piece! It really is SO tremendously worth your time.
Soila was one of my favorite WorldCon panelists last year and here she’s written a really thoughtful but also extremely enjoyable treatise on what can sometimes be the “cringe” effect of reading—let alone writing!—fics in your native tongue.
I found this piece so engrossing, delightfully wry, provocative, and educational. It makes me so happy and proud to be a part of this era of Fansplaining.
Media Roundup: Food and Friendship
Thursday, May 14th, 2026 11:18 amforestofgloryFive Worlds by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun— This series of five MG science fantasy graphic novels. There are multiple moons that the characters travel between and also magic which makes for a fun mix. Three children must go on a quest together to save the world. Occasionally the problems they face are a little too parallel to those of our world. For example their worlds are heating up, and it's going to be a disaster if no one does anything. And I found the similarities a little stressful. But mostly the story was lot of fun, with cool worldbuilding. The art is really good, very colorful and fun, but also surprisingly easy to follow what is going on from panel to panel even when the action gets complicated. The environments and backgrounds are also really good.
Superman vs. Meshi by Satoshi Miyagawa, Kai Kitago (Illustrator), Wes Abbott (Letterer), trans Sheldon Drzka— So you know those slice of life manga where everyone goes on in detail about how good the food is? This is one of those with Superman as the main character. He’s become obsessed with Japanese chain restaurants and so goes to Japan on his lunch breaks – it’s very cute.
Superman is so excited to eat food! One time he got confused about which kanji was for beef and which was for pork which I found very relatable. He also brings his fellow superheroes and family to come eat with him resulting in some cute moments. (thought I can not suspend my disbelief to believe that a bunch of old people from Kannas would be happy to sit on the floor and eat sushi)
I think this is much more successful as a foodie slice of life manga than it is as a superhero comic, but I don’t really think it's trying to be a superhero comic. (But if someone came to this expecting more typical superhero stuff they would probably be confused)
Content notes: Fat phobia - mostly off hand comments about gaining weight, but there was one issue where it was more of focus. Also non consensual memory wiping
Let's Eat Together, Aki and Haru, vol 1 by Makoto Taji, trans Unknow— Reading Superman vs Meshi made me want to read more slice of life manga, so I picked up this one about two college roommates eating together. It’s tagged a yaoi so I think they’ll get together at some point but right now it's just gentle pinning and blushing. Since this is about college students is about simple and easy foods, and there are recipes. It's cute and charming.
Batgirl vol 3 (2009) by Bryan Q. Miller et al.— I have a lot of feelings about Stephine Brown – some of which have to do with her political/fandom history. The first time I learned that there had been more than one Robin was years ago reading discourse about her death, and I just feel fiercely protective of her. All this is to say that I was excited to read this series where she is the star!
It’s fun! I don’t love the way it sets up a “Steph has always been a fuck up" narrative (That doesn’t track with my reading of earlier comics, though I did skip War Games) But otherwise I really like this version of Steph. And I love seeing her working together with and being supported by other women!
January, February, & March 2026: Abridged sonnets and legible arrangements
Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 05:28 pmallthingslinguistic_feedIn the first quarter of the year, I attended the Linguistic Society of America 2026 annual meeting online and admired how linguists are really great at pronouncing people’s names (phonetic transcription is a practical skill!).
I narrated the audiobook for Shakespeare’s Sonnets Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness by Zach Weinersmith, featuring sonnets turned into couplets like “When in…
January, February, & March 2026: Abridged sonnets and legible arrangements
No stuff - but beer?
Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 10:58 amlnrI've got very little of interest to report :) I had a lovely visit to Wandlebury with Becky and Stu with a picnic lunch and photos of dead people. (Very dead, roughly saxon/viking era archaeology, which is interesting given it's an iron age feature). Since then I've mostly been reading and playing minecraft and whinging about my shoulder. I've asked the GP if there's anything else I can do until I hear back from the waiting list for NHS physio/possible hydro-distension and a GP will get back to me on the 21st. I've contacted the Spire to ask how much it is privately and they said they'd call me yesterday morning but didn't.
But I am going to do things next week! Heading to London on Sunday to see Jess, Paul and Emi in the pub (they're visiting back from the US), and then BEER on Tuesday 19th. If the weather co-operates I'll be at the beer festival all afternoon and possibly into the evening. And the week after next is half term and we're off to Whitby for a week, which will hopefully be lovely
Do come join me for the beer!
